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Land Soil health
Physical status
Moderate soil compaction (low macroporosity) was found on a large proportion of monitored pasture soils. Soil compaction is caused primarily by farm animals treading on pastures.
Macroporosity below a 10 per cent threshold has been shown to adversely affect pasture production. About half the monitored sites under dairy land use and 40 per cent of drystock sites were below this desirable threshold.
What can you do?
- Visit www.landcare.org.nz for information about sustainable land management and biodiversity initiatives in rural communities.
- Composting kitchen and garden waste reinvigorates soil. Composting serves as a kind of carbon sink, storing carbon in the soil instead of in the atmosphere.
This information has come from the latest national state of the environment report Environment New Zealand 2007 and the Soil Health Environmental Snapshot Report Card.
Return to the soil health page.
Last updated: January 2011
